“That’s what happened to Kri and me.”
“It’s supposedly caused by a surge in testosterone produced during battle, but I didn’t think that females might react in the same way. The chemistry is different.”
Eleanor shrugged. “Maybe it’s the adrenaline, or perhaps Kri and I have more testosterone than other females. I’m not a doctor.”
“Neither am I.” William swiveled the laptop toward her. “I assembled a list of questions, but if you can think of anything else, please add it in the comments field in the end. Your feedback will help us improve the program.”
“No problem.”
What she would rather have done was call Greggory and have wild phone sex with him, but since her line wasn’t private, that wasn’t going to happen.
William pushed to his feet. “I’ll be in the other room if you need me.”
Eleanor lifted her hand. “Hold on. I want to ask you something.”
He sat back down. “Ask away.”
“What about the tap on my phone? The goddess compelled everyone to adhere to the accord, so there is no more need to monitor my calls to Greggory.”
William was a smart guy, and it didn’t take him long to figure out why she needed privacy for those calls.
A cute blush coloring his cheeks, he nodded. “You are right, but I can’t do that without getting permission first. I have to call the boss.”
“I hope that by boss, you mean Onegus, not Kian.”
He regarded her with suspicious eyes. “What difference does it make?”
Eleanor shifted in her chair. “It seems like too trivial a request to bother Kian with, and I don’t want him to get annoyed with me.”
“He won’t mind. I’ll send him a text, and all he will have to do is answer yes or no.” William rose to his feet. “He will be much angrier if I don’t ask him first.”
“In that case, go ahead.” She waved him off. “I don’t want Kian to get mad at either of us.”
As William left the room, Eleanor let out a breath. Despite the signing of the accord and Annani’s compulsion ensuring everyone’s adherence to it, Kian would most likely say no. The guy was suspicious bordering on paranoid, and he didn’t like her.
With a sigh, she started answering William’s questions, which regrettably didn’t come with multiple choice answers. Each one required a detailed, written summary. Kri had done the smart thing by finding an excuse not to do it.
When William returned, she was done with about ten percent of the questionnaire.
“Kian approved your request.” He rounded the desk and sat down. “I’ll call the security office right now and ask them to terminate the tap on your line. It will be removed from the dedicated security to the clan’s regular vault.”
“I thought that you would remove the tap completely. After all, I can’t call anyone other than Greggory and people in the village, so there is no reason to leave the tap on.”
“All calls made from clan phones are recorded, but the recordings are placed in a virtual vault that no one accesses unless there is a very good reason for it. Your calls will be completely private.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Who decides what’s a very good reason to open the vault?”
“Edna. If something happens, like a clan member goes missing, or in the case of a criminal investigation, she can be petitioned to grant access to the recordings in the vault. She would never do that lightly.”
“I don’t like it, but I get it. It’s a good security measure.”
“I agree. We didn’t have anything like that until recently. Turner suggested it, and we implemented it right away.”
“But if everyone knows that their phone calls are being recorded, which I assume that they do since you are telling me about it, they will just use burner phones to make calls they want to remain private.”
“True, but criminal activity is not a big concern in the village. A clan member getting abducted is.”
“What are the chances of that?”
“Slim, but it’s happened before. Not that Amanda’s phone calls being recorded would have helped us find her.”
Amanda had been kidnapped?
“How did you find her? And who took her?”
William smiled. “That’s one hell of a story.” He pulled out his phone. “But first, let me take care of your phone tap.”
36
Sari
Sari appreciated her family’s support, but she was glad when Kian and Syssi had left with Amanda and Alena so she could go back to David’s room. Annani had stayed behind to keep her company, and she invited her to join her.
“I hope that you don’t mind.” Sari pulled a chair out for her mother and another for herself. “But I get even more anxious whenever I’m not right here by David’s side.”
“I do not mind, my child. You need me, and I want to be here for you.” She smiled. “Besides, Bridget said that Turner hearing people tell him stories helped him cling to life. I could talk for several months and not run out of fascinating tales to keep David engaged.”
“I bet. If it was up to me, he would probably be bored.”
“I am sure that is not true.”
“It is. My life is not very exciting. I can talk on and on about the businesses I run for the clan, but I doubt David would find that interesting.” Sari sighed. “Right now, though, I would have given anything for less excitement. I hate feeling helpless.”
“You are not helpless, Sari. You have me, and I will not let David perish. You have my word.”
“I wish I could believe it.”
“You can.” Her mother patted her knee. “There are forces in the universe you know nothing about.”
“And you do?”
Annani smiled. “I have seen enough to know that my knowledge is extremely limited, and I am humble enough to admit it.”
Sari chuckled. “The word humble and you do not belong in the same sentence.”
Looking at Sari down her nose, Annani rearranged her skirt. “I do not flaunt my humility as a way to make myself appear grander, but I am smart enough to realize that my seemingly vast knowledge is not even a speck of dust in the enormity of cosmic reality. Regrettably, many human scientists lack humility, and so do you. If you admit that you do not know everything, you will open yourself to hope and trust.”
Perhaps her mother was right and Sari needed a dose of humility. It was pride in her intellect that prevented her from trusting the Fates and their plans for her, and the same pride made her doubt her mother’s promise.
With that realization, a sense of relief settled upon her. It was okay to hope, to believe that everything would end well. It wasn’t stupid, or naive.
“Thank you.” She took her mother’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “That helped.”
“I am glad. Now let me tell you a story that both you and David will find fascinating.”
Sari’s head whipped toward her mother. “Are you going to finally tell me what really happened between you and David?”
Annani nodded. “Not David, but a man called Gudbrand who might have been his prior incarnation. I did not want to tell you the story because it is not one I am proud of, and also because it might taint your relationship with David. But Alena convinced me that you need to know.”